This will be my last post for a few days. I'm off to NYC and will be back on July 5th. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the internet where I will be. I will try to find a close-by internet cafe but that's not certain.
For several days, I will be at the mercy of CNN for news. The prospect is terrifying.
site meter
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Marj al Zuhour, all Over Again
In 1993, Israel deported about 400 Palestinians to Marj al Zuhour in Southern Lebanon. Many of them became hamas leaders. The arrest of the Hamas leadership, which has just gone on hunger strike in Israeli jails, reminds me of Marj al Zuhour all over again. History does repeat itself...especially under occupation.
kidnapping as State Policy
According to Haaretz, the arrest of Hamas ministers and legislatures was planned weeks ago. In other words, it has nothing to do with their efforts to get their soldier back.
I find it instructive that they waited till Hamas signed the national unity document which calls for a Palestinian state in the land occupied in 1967 (West Bank and Gaza). A unified Palestinian front is the real threat to Israel; everything else is pretense.
My question is to the Israeli people:
Do you feel safer now?
I find it instructive that they waited till Hamas signed the national unity document which calls for a Palestinian state in the land occupied in 1967 (West Bank and Gaza). A unified Palestinian front is the real threat to Israel; everything else is pretense.
My question is to the Israeli people:
Do you feel safer now?
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Speaking on al Jazeera
I watched al Jazeera TV for 3 hours last night. Bad idea. There was a parade of spokesmen, some for the Israeli army and the rest for the various Palestinian militias. I don't know who the latter group is addressing, the Israeli army or their own poeple. They suffer from a major case of hyperbolic rhetoric, which, unfortunately, leads them to list in detail the kinds of arms they have in their possession and what they are going to be doing to counter the Israeli attack. I mean all the Israeli army needs to do is watch Al Jazeera and it will get some pretty good intelligence. As to the Arab street, after hearing Abu Kusay and Abu 3uday's rhetorical flourishes they will feel that the Palestinians are so superior militarily that they need not lose any sleep over their fate, and they proceed to have a good night's sleep.
There were no interviews with ordinary Palestinians.
Here is how some Gazans under attack feel.
Meet the Press
"A senior Hamas official, Adnan Asfur, has called for the immediate release of Shalit, saying the abduction was inhumane."
This is according to Haaretz, which could be lying. But I don't think so. This is not the first time that a Hamas official says something to the Israeli newspaper that he won't say to Palestinian papers. The motivation is self-preservation.
This is according to Haaretz, which could be lying. But I don't think so. This is not the first time that a Hamas official says something to the Israeli newspaper that he won't say to Palestinian papers. The motivation is self-preservation.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
The Final Agreement
Here's the Arabic text of the final agreement between the various Palestinian groups, excluding the Islamic Jihad, which refused to sign.
Highlights:
PLO is the sole representative of the Palestinians
Call for establishing a Palestinian state on all the lands occupied in 1967, with Jerusalem as capital
Right of return for the refugees in accordance with international law
Focus resistance in areas occupied in 1967
I hope this agreement is not too late.
update: Hamas is already playing verbal acrobatics
Highlights:
PLO is the sole representative of the Palestinians
Call for establishing a Palestinian state on all the lands occupied in 1967, with Jerusalem as capital
Right of return for the refugees in accordance with international law
Focus resistance in areas occupied in 1967
I hope this agreement is not too late.
update: Hamas is already playing verbal acrobatics
Monday, June 26, 2006
Gay Muslim Seeking Lesbian Wife
Gay Muslims are redefining marriages of convenience: some gay Muslim men are looking to marry lesbians in order to stay in the closet and avoid Mom's nagging to get a wife. Of course, marriage was always the best cover, but while historically the man may not bother telling the wife he's gay or bisexual and chose deception instead, here we actually have an honest releationhip between the man and woman. Society, including Mom, is the only duped party.
The article focuses mostly on gay men and does not say much about lesbians, though it is implying in a"vice versa" slight of phrase that lesbians too are seeking gay men for similar marriages of convenience.
On a related issue, I wonder if non-virgins, who are not lesbians, may be interested in marriages of conveniences with gay Muslim men. This might be a viable option for the poor ones who can't afford the hymen reconstruction surgery. (thanks wyt rabbit)
Let's remember that the virginity fetish is not restricted to Muslim men. In Islam, both men and women are expected to be chaste. But in a patriarchal culture men tend to get away with things, and Muslim men are no different. Muslim feminists point out that many of Mohammad's wives were none virgins. On the other hand, there are plenty of American men who are so fixated on getting a virgin that they are eager participants in Asia's thriving sexual tourism. American women are having "vaginal jobs" in LA to retore their hymens in order to please their men. They are not Muslims.
These two articles, the second one in particular, are examples of how "Muslim sexuality" is usually framed in western discourse, a framing that underscores difference and backwardness.
The article focuses mostly on gay men and does not say much about lesbians, though it is implying in a"vice versa" slight of phrase that lesbians too are seeking gay men for similar marriages of convenience.
On a related issue, I wonder if non-virgins, who are not lesbians, may be interested in marriages of conveniences with gay Muslim men. This might be a viable option for the poor ones who can't afford the hymen reconstruction surgery. (thanks wyt rabbit)
Let's remember that the virginity fetish is not restricted to Muslim men. In Islam, both men and women are expected to be chaste. But in a patriarchal culture men tend to get away with things, and Muslim men are no different. Muslim feminists point out that many of Mohammad's wives were none virgins. On the other hand, there are plenty of American men who are so fixated on getting a virgin that they are eager participants in Asia's thriving sexual tourism. American women are having "vaginal jobs" in LA to retore their hymens in order to please their men. They are not Muslims.
These two articles, the second one in particular, are examples of how "Muslim sexuality" is usually framed in western discourse, a framing that underscores difference and backwardness.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Wafaa Sultan: "Islam's Ann Coulter"
My earlier post mentioned Wafaa Sultan, the anti-Muslim crusader made famous by MEMRI's translation of her Al Jazeera interview. Just in case you think I'm hard on her, here's what a Rabbi thinks of her, after listening to her poisonous and idiotic pronouncement at a fundraiser for an organization that seeks to coutner anti-Israel views. She was the guest speaker. While I don't endorse all his statements, I think he's right on target dismissing Sultan as "Islam's Ann Coulter."
Distractions
Another argument for segregation of the sexes thrown out of the window. A new British study found that "Teaching girls in single-sex schools, long an obsession of many parents worried about their daughters being distracted by boys, makes no difference to their educational attainment."I could have told them that!
Who is afraid of Al Jazeera?
Apparently, Americans, as this American reporter working for the Arab channel found out through experience. (thanks Deb)
I watch al Jazeera news, mostly when there is something going on in Palestine. They have reporters who are based there, in Ramallah and Gaza, instead of in West Jerusalem. As a result, their reporters are quickly on the scene, unlike American correspondents who use the place as scenic background long after whatever they are reporting on happened. Al Jazeera reporters know the language and are not afraid to talk to the "natives", while the others rely too much on Israeli spokespeople for information and tips. I can't say that I like some of the reporters' rhetorical flourishes, but they've been getting better.
Their instant translator, the guy who does the voice over when they are interviewing non-Arabic speaking people is an unmitigated disater. He sounds so disgusted.
As to Al Jazeera's other programming: I stopped watching "The Opposite Direction" because it literally gives me a headache; their choice of opposing views is usually so ridiculous as to exclude any real dialogue. It's the mud wrestling of political talk shows. But we are so deprived of debate in Arab media that Al Jazeera seems revolutionary in comparison (but it isn't).
Funny how to market Al Jazeera to Americans, the writer of the article is mentioning the Wafa Sultan interview on "The Opposite Direction." Here's someone who trashed Islam and Muslims and as a result became an international sensation and even got death threats (the ultimate boost of anti-Muslim credentials). Well, she became an international sensation and not an Arab sensation. I don't think her interview in Arabic had any effect. It was only after it was translated into English by MEMRI and was gotten hold of by Islamophobic sites and news media that she took off. You can read what I think of Wafa Sultan here.
The bottom line is that Americans should not fear Al Jazeera. It's bark is worse than its bite.
I watch al Jazeera news, mostly when there is something going on in Palestine. They have reporters who are based there, in Ramallah and Gaza, instead of in West Jerusalem. As a result, their reporters are quickly on the scene, unlike American correspondents who use the place as scenic background long after whatever they are reporting on happened. Al Jazeera reporters know the language and are not afraid to talk to the "natives", while the others rely too much on Israeli spokespeople for information and tips. I can't say that I like some of the reporters' rhetorical flourishes, but they've been getting better.
Their instant translator, the guy who does the voice over when they are interviewing non-Arabic speaking people is an unmitigated disater. He sounds so disgusted.
As to Al Jazeera's other programming: I stopped watching "The Opposite Direction" because it literally gives me a headache; their choice of opposing views is usually so ridiculous as to exclude any real dialogue. It's the mud wrestling of political talk shows. But we are so deprived of debate in Arab media that Al Jazeera seems revolutionary in comparison (but it isn't).
Funny how to market Al Jazeera to Americans, the writer of the article is mentioning the Wafa Sultan interview on "The Opposite Direction." Here's someone who trashed Islam and Muslims and as a result became an international sensation and even got death threats (the ultimate boost of anti-Muslim credentials). Well, she became an international sensation and not an Arab sensation. I don't think her interview in Arabic had any effect. It was only after it was translated into English by MEMRI and was gotten hold of by Islamophobic sites and news media that she took off. You can read what I think of Wafa Sultan here.
The bottom line is that Americans should not fear Al Jazeera. It's bark is worse than its bite.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Who Respects Women More?
"The chasm between Muslims and the West is also seen in judgments about how the other civilization treats women. Western publics, by lopsided margins, do not think of Muslims as "respectful of women." But half or more in four of the five Muslim publics surveyed say the same thing about people in the West," according to a new Pew Global Attitudes report. (first read via Sabbah's Blog)
Oh, no, it was a dream afterall!!
The Yemeni President has decided to run for yet another term, although few days ago he assured the masses he wasn't. He said he was bowing to "popular pressure."
Wait, I heard that before. But where? where? where?
When something is too good to be true, it is. When would I ever get over my Charlie Brown syndrom?
Breaking People
In the village of Al Nu'man, near Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers have put an iron gate at the entrance of the village. Before they let people pass, the soldiers demand that men take off their clothes and children dance. (in Arabic)
Isn't Bethlehem were Jesus was born? Who do you think he will side with: the soldiers or the dancing kids?
Isn't Bethlehem were Jesus was born? Who do you think he will side with: the soldiers or the dancing kids?
Bodies in Transit
Don't you love the euphemisms used to talk about sexual harassment of women on public transportation? "Bumping" for rubbing against a woman and "flashing"for showing her some tiny appendage full of itself.
It's a problem for women in cities like New York, Egypt, and Mexico. Men take advantage of the anonymity of crowds and proximity of women's bodies to violate them. In some places, like Egypt and Mexico, they are instituting separate cars for women and men. In New York, they are trying to arrest the men. I like that!
I don't believe segregating women or veiling them is the solution. These ways avoid dealing with the aggressors and focus only on the victims. Unless the underlying assumption is that men are sexual predators by nature and there's nothing we can do about it. If I were a man, I'd be really offended by this logic.
In my experience, on several occasions riding in public shared taxis between Ramallah and Nablus I had to ask some man sitting next to me to "give me my space" because he was pressing too close. A couple of times, I had to raise my voice and say that I payed as much as he did and maybe he can put his legs closer together so other people can sit. The back seat of 7- passenger cars was the place to avoid because some men seemed to think that they got you cornered there.
As unpleasant it was to deal with these incidents, I have learned that not saying anything leaves me feeling worse.
It's a problem for women in cities like New York, Egypt, and Mexico. Men take advantage of the anonymity of crowds and proximity of women's bodies to violate them. In some places, like Egypt and Mexico, they are instituting separate cars for women and men. In New York, they are trying to arrest the men. I like that!
I don't believe segregating women or veiling them is the solution. These ways avoid dealing with the aggressors and focus only on the victims. Unless the underlying assumption is that men are sexual predators by nature and there's nothing we can do about it. If I were a man, I'd be really offended by this logic.
In my experience, on several occasions riding in public shared taxis between Ramallah and Nablus I had to ask some man sitting next to me to "give me my space" because he was pressing too close. A couple of times, I had to raise my voice and say that I payed as much as he did and maybe he can put his legs closer together so other people can sit. The back seat of 7- passenger cars was the place to avoid because some men seemed to think that they got you cornered there.
As unpleasant it was to deal with these incidents, I have learned that not saying anything leaves me feeling worse.
A Sticking Point
One of the sticking points still preventing Fateh and Hamas from reaching an agreement over the prisoners' document is
"who is authorized to approve diplomatic agreements - the Palestinian National Council, Khaled Meshal, or the parliament."
Anything wrong with this picture?
"who is authorized to approve diplomatic agreements - the Palestinian National Council, Khaled Meshal, or the parliament."
Anything wrong with this picture?
Friday, June 23, 2006
A Palestinian Names His Still-Born Daughter "Majzara"
From Haaretz:
"In the Gaza town of Khan Yunis, doctors at Nasser Hospital performed a Caesarean section on Shaima Ahmed, 25, after detecting signs of fetal distress after she was wounded by shrapnel in Wednesday's air strike, medics said.
The fetus, due to have been born in the coming days, was found dead, they said. The mother remains in intensive care along with two other children, relatives of the family, who were injured in the attack.
Under Muslim tradition, the dead baby was named before she was buried after dark on Friday.
Soufian Ahmed, the father, said he had named her Majazara, using the Arabic word for "massacre." He told Reuters he had done so "to tell the world once again about the massacres Israel has committed against innocent Palestinians".
"In the Gaza town of Khan Yunis, doctors at Nasser Hospital performed a Caesarean section on Shaima Ahmed, 25, after detecting signs of fetal distress after she was wounded by shrapnel in Wednesday's air strike, medics said.
The fetus, due to have been born in the coming days, was found dead, they said. The mother remains in intensive care along with two other children, relatives of the family, who were injured in the attack.
Under Muslim tradition, the dead baby was named before she was buried after dark on Friday.
Soufian Ahmed, the father, said he had named her Majazara, using the Arabic word for "massacre." He told Reuters he had done so "to tell the world once again about the massacres Israel has committed against innocent Palestinians".
Teaching Niqabis
"Schools in the Norwegian capital will ban Muslim girls from covering their faces, adding to the list of European cities and states that have banned the garment.The reason given is that teachers could not do their job properly without seeing their students' faces."
I never had a student who wore a niqab in any of my classes, either in Palestine or the States so I can't say anything about the effect of a niqabi on my teaching (or the effect of my teaching on a niqabi). I do know that I like seeing my students' faces (except when they're falling asleep : ). I also like hearing their voices. I hope that we dont' start hearing that a woman's voice is a "3awra" (forbidden) and should be hidden. If we accept the niqab as a religious practice that should be respected, why would we not accept the silence of a woman in the classroom on the same basis? Why stop there: what if a student will say that certain topics I'm discussing in my classes are against her religion? Where do we draw the line?
On a lighter note, once I was proctoring an exam at An Najah Univesity in Nabuls. It was a big hall, with a large number of students. Students were supposed to show their university ID card before they can be allowed to start the exam to make sure that they are the ones sitting for the test and not their buddy with the better Enlgish. One of the students wore a niqab. Since she wasn't my student and I didn't know what she looked like, her ID picture meant nothing. When I told her that, she laughed and said "look into my eyes." Well, that didn't help much. The chair of the department suggested that I take her to a room and ask her to remove her face veil to check (he couldn't do it). I refused. The last thing anybody there needed is more body searches!! I asked the other students if they would vouch for her. They did and the issue was settled.
Oh, the excitement of proctoring English exams!
I never had a student who wore a niqab in any of my classes, either in Palestine or the States so I can't say anything about the effect of a niqabi on my teaching (or the effect of my teaching on a niqabi). I do know that I like seeing my students' faces (except when they're falling asleep : ). I also like hearing their voices. I hope that we dont' start hearing that a woman's voice is a "3awra" (forbidden) and should be hidden. If we accept the niqab as a religious practice that should be respected, why would we not accept the silence of a woman in the classroom on the same basis? Why stop there: what if a student will say that certain topics I'm discussing in my classes are against her religion? Where do we draw the line?
On a lighter note, once I was proctoring an exam at An Najah Univesity in Nabuls. It was a big hall, with a large number of students. Students were supposed to show their university ID card before they can be allowed to start the exam to make sure that they are the ones sitting for the test and not their buddy with the better Enlgish. One of the students wore a niqab. Since she wasn't my student and I didn't know what she looked like, her ID picture meant nothing. When I told her that, she laughed and said "look into my eyes." Well, that didn't help much. The chair of the department suggested that I take her to a room and ask her to remove her face veil to check (he couldn't do it). I refused. The last thing anybody there needed is more body searches!! I asked the other students if they would vouch for her. They did and the issue was settled.
Oh, the excitement of proctoring English exams!
Articles That Ruin My Morning
Titling her article "Why Gaza Attacks Are Deadlier:The Israeli army is facing an internal investigation into why recent missile atrike have gone so badly," The Christian Science Monitor's staff writer Ilene Prusher lulls you for a moment into thinking she will be talking about some enlightening "investigation."
The reporter declares, without blushing (a useful skill for some journalists), that "The tactics and technology of the conflict on both sides" have been getting more advanced!!!! How is that for balance?
To back up her statement she gives the floor to an Israeli army professional liar (often a soft-spoken pretty woman with nice highlights and a charming smile) to peddle some more lies about how it is not the army's fault really but the fault of those dumb Palestinian kids who always get in front of smart Israeli missiles.
As to technology, we hear about the range of the Palestinian rockets and their make but nothing about the Israeli rockets and shells. She does mention that the army has recently placed a "military balloon" over Gaza to take pictures. I wonder what color?
The reporter chips in: Since the army withdrew, they come close to the border. Since the rockets reach farther they've been firing from the middle of civilian areas (come on: settle on a lie: borders or civilian areas? can't have both). It's not clear where she got this information: Is she just repeating the words of the Israeli army apologist? (which I believe she is), is she quoting (then she needs quotation marks), or is she reporting the results of her own "investigation" (then where is her evidence?)
Taking the readers for idiots, Prusher does not bother to explain how the supposedly new advanced technology the Palestinians are using has continued to be "not terribly accurate." She mentions that 15 Israelis have been killed by Qassams, which, according to every other source I checked, is wrong. According to Wikipedia, eight were killed (two of them are Arab shephards. Do they count?)
For effect, the reporter throws in the word "Hizballah." Spooky!!
Prusher never mentions the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks (37 including 7 children in the last 2 weeks only). She never mentions the number of shells and rockets fired at Gaza (7599 in last 3 months). This is in an article that is supposedly about the investigation of why so many Palestinians are being killed.
To be fair, she quotes Palestinian officials who condmen with canned phrases that you either skip or twirl your thumps while reading. But that's not her fault.
And then the cherry on the cake: the Gaza beach killings: this is how she concludes her article:
"Israeli shelling initially was believed to have caused the deaths. But Israeli officials and newspaper reports have suggested that there was either a bomb on the beach, planted by militants to prevent an Israeli invasion by sea and accidentally triggered by the family, or the family happened open old, unexploded ammunition."
That's all she wrote!!
Nothing about counter reports. Human Rights Watch. Israeli Channell 10 report. Palestinian witnesses and sources.
How is that for balance?
Then adding insult to balance, she or her editor chooses a picture that will stir in the reader the least sympathy for the Palestinians: a long shot of an angry crowd, no faces, no wounds: the only injuries are to a car: how much sympathy are we going to have with a wrecked car? Not much. And to make sure that the idiot reader does not miss the point, here's the caption:
"Palestinians chanted anti-Israeli slogans near a damaged car after an Israeli airstrike Tuesday in Gaza killed three children."
Angry crowds.Threatening. Chanting anti-Israel slogans. A damaged car. By the time you reach the "killed three children," you are convinced the Palestinians did it.
Oh, well! One more morning down the drains!
The reporter declares, without blushing (a useful skill for some journalists), that "The tactics and technology of the conflict on both sides" have been getting more advanced!!!! How is that for balance?
To back up her statement she gives the floor to an Israeli army professional liar (often a soft-spoken pretty woman with nice highlights and a charming smile) to peddle some more lies about how it is not the army's fault really but the fault of those dumb Palestinian kids who always get in front of smart Israeli missiles.
As to technology, we hear about the range of the Palestinian rockets and their make but nothing about the Israeli rockets and shells. She does mention that the army has recently placed a "military balloon" over Gaza to take pictures. I wonder what color?
The reporter chips in: Since the army withdrew, they come close to the border. Since the rockets reach farther they've been firing from the middle of civilian areas (come on: settle on a lie: borders or civilian areas? can't have both). It's not clear where she got this information: Is she just repeating the words of the Israeli army apologist? (which I believe she is), is she quoting (then she needs quotation marks), or is she reporting the results of her own "investigation" (then where is her evidence?)
Taking the readers for idiots, Prusher does not bother to explain how the supposedly new advanced technology the Palestinians are using has continued to be "not terribly accurate." She mentions that 15 Israelis have been killed by Qassams, which, according to every other source I checked, is wrong. According to Wikipedia, eight were killed (two of them are Arab shephards. Do they count?)
For effect, the reporter throws in the word "Hizballah." Spooky!!
Prusher never mentions the number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks (37 including 7 children in the last 2 weeks only). She never mentions the number of shells and rockets fired at Gaza (7599 in last 3 months). This is in an article that is supposedly about the investigation of why so many Palestinians are being killed.
To be fair, she quotes Palestinian officials who condmen with canned phrases that you either skip or twirl your thumps while reading. But that's not her fault.
And then the cherry on the cake: the Gaza beach killings: this is how she concludes her article:
"Israeli shelling initially was believed to have caused the deaths. But Israeli officials and newspaper reports have suggested that there was either a bomb on the beach, planted by militants to prevent an Israeli invasion by sea and accidentally triggered by the family, or the family happened open old, unexploded ammunition."
That's all she wrote!!
Nothing about counter reports. Human Rights Watch. Israeli Channell 10 report. Palestinian witnesses and sources.
How is that for balance?
Then adding insult to balance, she or her editor chooses a picture that will stir in the reader the least sympathy for the Palestinians: a long shot of an angry crowd, no faces, no wounds: the only injuries are to a car: how much sympathy are we going to have with a wrecked car? Not much. And to make sure that the idiot reader does not miss the point, here's the caption:
"Palestinians chanted anti-Israeli slogans near a damaged car after an Israeli airstrike Tuesday in Gaza killed three children."
Angry crowds.Threatening. Chanting anti-Israel slogans. A damaged car. By the time you reach the "killed three children," you are convinced the Palestinians did it.
Oh, well! One more morning down the drains!
After School Prayer
"The Howard County school board has agreed to consider continuing a policy that has allowed Muslim students to leave school 20 minutes early on Fridays to attend prayer services."
Personally, I would fight against my kid leaving school early for any reason. Everything else can wait. Especially prayer.
Personally, I would fight against my kid leaving school early for any reason. Everything else can wait. Especially prayer.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Another Reason Not to Attend the ADC Convention
According to this interesting post on Kababfest, the audience at the ADC convention banquet gave a standing ovation to Omar Sharif after he told a story claiming he played a role in initiating the Camp David agreements.
There is consolation in the fact that Sharif's story does, indeed, show Saadat as "exacteely" an idiot.
There is consolation in the fact that Sharif's story does, indeed, show Saadat as "exacteely" an idiot.
Immoral Challenge
"Responding to a challenge by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel to declare suicide attacks "crimes against humanity," PA President Mahmoud Abbas responded in the affirmative. "First of all, as Muslims, it is a crime to commit suicide. Muslims believe that if you commit suicide, you go to hell and that goes without saying for killing others."
What's upsetting about this is that Elie Wiesel, a man who never ever criticizes Israeli killings of Palestinians (or of anybody else for that matter) is having the high moral ground. People have been challenging him for years to speak for all victims, but he refuses. I don't care how many Nobel Peace Prizes he received, he was and remains a hypocrite. And I'm being really polite here.
As to Abbas's explanations. Abbas knows, and at some point he has articulated (word used loosely here), better arguments against suicide bombings. But an immoral"challenge" desreves a lame response.
What's upsetting about this is that Elie Wiesel, a man who never ever criticizes Israeli killings of Palestinians (or of anybody else for that matter) is having the high moral ground. People have been challenging him for years to speak for all victims, but he refuses. I don't care how many Nobel Peace Prizes he received, he was and remains a hypocrite. And I'm being really polite here.
As to Abbas's explanations. Abbas knows, and at some point he has articulated (word used loosely here), better arguments against suicide bombings. But an immoral"challenge" desreves a lame response.
Now This Is News!!
"Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh insisted he will not run for presidency in September's election, despite being nominated Wednesday as candidate by the country's ruling party."
If he really means this, I'm stunned. An Arab leader is relinguishing power willingly??? How can this be?? Could it be he wants to spend more time with his family?
Whatever you think, please don't wake me up!
On another note, can anyone tell me what is the connection between the story and the above picture The Daily Star chose to go with it? I'm stumped!
A Week of Israeli Restraint
"But what is driving the Qassam attacks on Israel? For 17 months, since it declared a cease fire, Hamas has not been involved in firing Qassams. The other organizations have generally succeeded in launching only a few isolated Qassams. How did this evolve into an attack of something like 70 Qassams in three days? The Israeli army has a long tradition of “inviting” salvoes of Qassams," writes Israeli professor Tanya Reinhart in this really interesting article.
Human Rights Watch on Beach Massacre
"'If the Israeli allegations of tampered evidence are to be believed, many Palestinians would have to have engaged in a massive and immediate conspiracy to falsify the data,” said Garlasco. “The conspirators – witnesses, victims, medical personnel and bomb disposal staff – would have had to falsify their testimony, amend digital and hand-written records, and dip shrapnel into a victim’s blood. It beggars belief that such a huge conspiracy could be orchestrated so quickly.”
And the score is
"In the last three months, Palestinians have fired 479 homemade rockets towards Israel. During the same period, the IDF fired 7,599 artillery shells into the Gaza Strip."
Quote of the Day
"The IDF has the firepower to wipe out an entire population if we wanted. We could wipe out all of Gaza but we are not doing this."
Benjamin Netanyahu to the 35th Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, June 22, 2006
"Instead, we are doing it surgically, wiping out one family at a time," he should have added.
Benjamin Netanyahu to the 35th Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, June 22, 2006
"Instead, we are doing it surgically, wiping out one family at a time," he should have added.
American Virgins
Isn't it interesting that in this story about some Americans' embrace of chastity and virginity till marriage there is nothing about Muslim Americans. It mentions Christians and Jews but leave out Muslims. I guess talking about Muslims in this context, along with Christians and Jews, would unsensationalize them. The media perfers to treat Muslims as separate species of beings to be placed in sensational contexts that affirm their "difference."
Bewitched in Ghana
In Ghana, one form of violence against women that patriarchy has perfected is to accuse old women of being witches. A suspected witch is then sent into exile.
This article obsessively uses the word "superstition" in Africa to frame the problem. This cultural framing is not helpful. My immediate reaction is to talk about the 67% of Americans who believe in the devil. Not to forget those poor Salem witches that were barbecued in the New World.
A more helpful frame for understanding such an unjust practice is a feminist one, with the focus being patriarchy and violence against women.
This article obsessively uses the word "superstition" in Africa to frame the problem. This cultural framing is not helpful. My immediate reaction is to talk about the 67% of Americans who believe in the devil. Not to forget those poor Salem witches that were barbecued in the New World.
A more helpful frame for understanding such an unjust practice is a feminist one, with the focus being patriarchy and violence against women.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
"The Missile Simply Missed"
In Gaza today, a seven-month-old pregnant Palestinian woman was...
You know the rest. You can finish the sentence. Fill in the blanks. The operative word is "killed." For variety, you may substitute "assassinated," "blown to pieces," "murdered," and "slaughtered."
Yes, the baby died too. And so did her brother, who was visiting her from Saudi Arabia. It's the summer, you know. Relatives come to visit from abroad. Just in time to die.
13 members of the family were injured. 5 of them small children.
And this time the Palestinians didn't do it to themselves.
"The missile simply missed."
The @#$%&* missile simply missed. Simply. They don't even have time between missiles to make up stories anymore. Too busy being simply the most moral army in the world.
"simply" tonight is the most obscene word in the English language. I hear it and I want to throw up.
You know the rest. You can finish the sentence. Fill in the blanks. The operative word is "killed." For variety, you may substitute "assassinated," "blown to pieces," "murdered," and "slaughtered."
Yes, the baby died too. And so did her brother, who was visiting her from Saudi Arabia. It's the summer, you know. Relatives come to visit from abroad. Just in time to die.
13 members of the family were injured. 5 of them small children.
And this time the Palestinians didn't do it to themselves.
"The missile simply missed."
The @#$%&* missile simply missed. Simply. They don't even have time between missiles to make up stories anymore. Too busy being simply the most moral army in the world.
"simply" tonight is the most obscene word in the English language. I hear it and I want to throw up.
One More Argument for Reforming Divorce Laws
The crying daughter: "Daddy, my husband has divorced me!"
The father: "God damn you, daugher! Is there a sane wife in the world who would say to her husband either me or the world cup in this house?"
Muslims in Europe
"As young Muslims in Britain (and across the West) try to maneuver between the various, and often conflicting, aspects of their identity, three clear tendencies have emerged. First, a secular and pragmatic response, which makes Islam a private matter. Second, a conservative stance that reconciles cultural, religious and familial ties with "Britishness." And third, a radical response to the perceived collision between the foreign policies of their new homelands and the welfare of the Islamic world," writes Saudi author Mai Yamani.
Thirst for Justice
Image from www. clear-lake-reflection.com Coca Cola steals Indian water and Israel steals Palestinian water.
But before you pass judgement, you should know that the Israeli state conducted a thorough scientific investigation and concluded that a Palestinian is a special organism that does not in fact need as much water as an Israeli of equal age and size.
It could be the desert thing.
However, scientists are "unable to reconcile" these findings with another scientific observation, also tested, that Palestinian blood is not blood, but water.
But they are working on it.
Kerala Says No to Coke
"The Plachimada fight has become a rousing symbol of resistance across India to Coca Cola, a company welcomed in by India’s neoliberals, who see “modernity” and “progress” in the sordid business of privatizing a publicly owned asset (water), adding syrup to it and then selling it back to original users of the water at an extortionate price. Coca-Cola had been confident that its clout would soon bring the Plachimada protesters to heel, but resistance has been spirited and determined, in a decade when public consciousness of a world water crisis has been growing swiftly."
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
The Sound of Grief
The Iraqi 'Oud player Naseer Shamma wrote this piece, "Al 'Amiriyah," to commomorate the civilians who died in Al 'Amiriyah shelter in the first Gulf War in 1991.
We might as well call it "Gaza."
More Death, More Lies
The two kids killed today in Gaza are Mohammad and Nadia al Roka. They were brother and sister. The teenager killed is Bilal al Hassa.
(Correction: Palestinian dailies report the dead girl as Samia al Shareef. She's not Mohammad's sister).
Ha'aretz reports that "Palestinian eye-witnesses said the strike came at an hour when the streets were busy and many children were playing in the area."
But the Israeli newspaper gives the last word to a professional senior liar:
"However, a senior IAF officer said the strike took place "in an area where traffic was very thin, and that the civilians that were injured were not seen by military cameras before the hit. The officer said the two missiles fired hit the vehicle directly. He was unable to explain how the two targets escaped with light injuries while nearby civilians were killed."
Maybe the kids were not seen because they were too small? too thin? too fragile to be picked by the high-tech cameras?
As to the "thin traffic" let's remember that Gaza is one of the most crowded places on the face of this planet.
Then there is the I'm "unable to explain." Could it be that the Palestinians staged this massacre the way they staged the beach massacre and the kids were actually blasted by Palestinian fire then brought, stealthily, to the scene to blame the Israelis? And the blood you see on them is not really blood; it's tomato juice. Look closely at the picture: the girl looks hurt but she really isn't. Palestinians don't hurt.
Then he goes on to justify hitting civilians by referring to the launching of the Qassams as "ticking bombs." Really? Shimon Peres just yesterday dismissed them as "Qassams shmassams." And Olmert just said that there is no immediate solution to the Qassam problem. I don't doubt that the fear the Qassams generate in the people at the receiving end is real. But for the most part they fall in empty areas. The only urgency is political: politicians are making the decisions to appease their constituencies and score against their opponents. The more Palestinian blood they spell, the more serious they seem. It's an image thing.
Can the Israelis for once imagine being at the receiving end of their own high tech guided missiles? Just once! Maybe then there will be peace and no more kids will die. Because kids are not meant to die. No, not kids.
But in Gaza, they do. Everyday.
(Correction: Palestinian dailies report the dead girl as Samia al Shareef. She's not Mohammad's sister).
Ha'aretz reports that "Palestinian eye-witnesses said the strike came at an hour when the streets were busy and many children were playing in the area."
But the Israeli newspaper gives the last word to a professional senior liar:
"However, a senior IAF officer said the strike took place "in an area where traffic was very thin, and that the civilians that were injured were not seen by military cameras before the hit. The officer said the two missiles fired hit the vehicle directly. He was unable to explain how the two targets escaped with light injuries while nearby civilians were killed."
Maybe the kids were not seen because they were too small? too thin? too fragile to be picked by the high-tech cameras?
As to the "thin traffic" let's remember that Gaza is one of the most crowded places on the face of this planet.
Then there is the I'm "unable to explain." Could it be that the Palestinians staged this massacre the way they staged the beach massacre and the kids were actually blasted by Palestinian fire then brought, stealthily, to the scene to blame the Israelis? And the blood you see on them is not really blood; it's tomato juice. Look closely at the picture: the girl looks hurt but she really isn't. Palestinians don't hurt.
Then he goes on to justify hitting civilians by referring to the launching of the Qassams as "ticking bombs." Really? Shimon Peres just yesterday dismissed them as "Qassams shmassams." And Olmert just said that there is no immediate solution to the Qassam problem. I don't doubt that the fear the Qassams generate in the people at the receiving end is real. But for the most part they fall in empty areas. The only urgency is political: politicians are making the decisions to appease their constituencies and score against their opponents. The more Palestinian blood they spell, the more serious they seem. It's an image thing.
Can the Israelis for once imagine being at the receiving end of their own high tech guided missiles? Just once! Maybe then there will be peace and no more kids will die. Because kids are not meant to die. No, not kids.
But in Gaza, they do. Everyday.
Lies
"If you keep lying long enough and with enough conviction, people start to believe you -- or at least doubt the evidence in front of their own eyes. And so it has been with the Israeli army’s account of how seven members of a Palestinian family were killed, and dozens of other Palestinians injured, during shelling close by a beach in Gaza," writes Jonathan Cook.
Gaza: The Palestinian State?
According to this article in The Christian Science Monitor, the Israeli occupation of Gaza ended when the settlers and soldiers left. So Gaza is free now to be the Palestinian state. This is what Olmert is offering and a chorus of idiots and professional liars is repeating after him. One even reduced the Palestinina-Israeli conflict to what he calls the Palestinians' "victimhood" disease. Even when you hand them "all of Gaza" on a golden plate, they much prefer to be shelled.
"All of Gaza" is 360 square Kelometers. (230 square miles)
Yeah. Unlike all other human beings on the face of this planet, the Palestinians love to see shrapnel in their kids' skulls.
Unfortuantely, there isn't much you can say to people who dehumanize Palestinians in this way. Their disease is incurable.
Back to Gaza.
Gaza is still under siege. Israel controls Gaza's airspace and coastal line. It completely controls the two borders it has with the Strip and therefore has tight economic control. Israel can enter Gaza any time it wants and demolish the whole place on people's heads. Palestinians are still dying in Gaza every day. As I'm writing this, a 5 year-old- Palestinian child was killed and 13 others, mostly children, were injured when Israel fired a missile on a car in a narrow, crowded street.
(update: another 6-year-old girl died in the strike).
A state means sovereignty and economic viablility. Gaza has neither.
(update 2: another child died in the strike)
And if you don't believe me, why don't you ask Gazans if they are occupied or not. They ought to know.
Israel never wanted Gaza and was always thinking of a way to unload it. For one thing, there are way too many Palestinians living there. For another, Gaza doesn't have the Biblical mythical aura the West Bank has. One Israeli writer recently put it, pulling out of Gaza, saved the settlement movement in the West Bank, the place Israel really covets. The major victory Israel scored by withdrawing from Gaza is a new US position that no longer treats the settlements in the West Bank as illegal, but rather as "facts on the grounds."
But according to international law (if anyone still gives a damn), these settlements are illegal and an occupying power cannot create "facts on the grounds" in the territories it's occupying.
"All of Gaza" is 360 square Kelometers. (230 square miles)
Yeah. Unlike all other human beings on the face of this planet, the Palestinians love to see shrapnel in their kids' skulls.
Unfortuantely, there isn't much you can say to people who dehumanize Palestinians in this way. Their disease is incurable.
Back to Gaza.
Gaza is still under siege. Israel controls Gaza's airspace and coastal line. It completely controls the two borders it has with the Strip and therefore has tight economic control. Israel can enter Gaza any time it wants and demolish the whole place on people's heads. Palestinians are still dying in Gaza every day. As I'm writing this, a 5 year-old- Palestinian child was killed and 13 others, mostly children, were injured when Israel fired a missile on a car in a narrow, crowded street.
(update: another 6-year-old girl died in the strike).
A state means sovereignty and economic viablility. Gaza has neither.
(update 2: another child died in the strike)
And if you don't believe me, why don't you ask Gazans if they are occupied or not. They ought to know.
Israel never wanted Gaza and was always thinking of a way to unload it. For one thing, there are way too many Palestinians living there. For another, Gaza doesn't have the Biblical mythical aura the West Bank has. One Israeli writer recently put it, pulling out of Gaza, saved the settlement movement in the West Bank, the place Israel really covets. The major victory Israel scored by withdrawing from Gaza is a new US position that no longer treats the settlements in the West Bank as illegal, but rather as "facts on the grounds."
But according to international law (if anyone still gives a damn), these settlements are illegal and an occupying power cannot create "facts on the grounds" in the territories it's occupying.
Saudi Women Bloggers
Predictably, the skirmishes between conservatives and liberals in Saudi Arabia are spreading to the blogosphere. Saudi women bloggers are right in the middle of the censors' "block and spin" techniques.
God forbid that anything be written about Arab women without the "veil" somewhere in the title. Here it's "Saudi women unveil opinion on line." How original!!
I should say that the above picture is NOT of a Saudi woman.
Chinese Women and Suicide
"there's a saying among [Chinese] men that goes: 'marrying a woman is like buying a horse: I can ride you and beat you whenever I like.'"
No wonder one Chinese woman kills herself every four minutes.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Palestinian Refugees Under Occupation: Poor, Young, and Dispossesed
Often we hear talk about the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza in opposition to the "Palestinian refugees" forgetting that many of those under occupation are also refugees. In fact, according to the Palestine Central Bureau of Statistics, 42.4 %of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are refugees. They make up 16.2 % of the Palestinian refugee population accounted for by UNRWA.
The Percentage of poor households headed by Palestinian refugees is 47.8 % of all poor households.
47.3 % are under 15 years old.
The Percentage of poor households headed by Palestinian refugees is 47.8 % of all poor households.
47.3 % are under 15 years old.
Voices of Palestine
If you are in the DC area, check out the "Voices of Palestine" film series at the Palestine Center, June 21-Aug. 9th.
Hero Worship, Julia's Style
The Lebanese singer Julia Butrus has a new album out. My favorite song, "Men7ebbak eh,"combines love and politics, sort of. It also has a happy ending--depending on your point of view. She may have had a certain president in mind, but feel free to dedicate it to your ruler of choice; it really fits so many. Here's my English translation of the lyrics.
"We Love You, We Really Do"
We love you, we really do,
The world is busy with your love
Darling, what a kind heart you have,
and we love you so!
Darling, what a kind heart you have,
What more do you want?
You despot, who is to stop you,
we sure love you.
You are dragging the world, to the end of the world
How could we not love you,
we really do.
People saw you and lost their minds
your charm is all they can talk about
for your eyes they're all singing,
and we do love you.
You are devoted to the cause,
you champion freedom
your eyes never sleep at night
and we sure love you.
You are all kindness
and very popular too
you are the essence of humanity
and we love you so
The fairy is sure coming,
at the end of the story
and she will eat the hero of the novel
And we sure love you.
Professional Vandalism
These pictures are not a prank by your average 10 year old. They are the pictures "Al Arabiya.net" chose to accompany their story that the water shortage in Kuwait has become an election issue. (in Arabic)
Huh?
There is nothing in the article about women, or women candidates, or defacing the faces of women candidates!! (if this is what we have here)
Maybe the water shortage is preventing the country from clearing the graffiti defacing women's faces?
Maybe the ten-year-old son of the editor is working there as a summer intern?
Or maybe someone at "Al Arabiya. net" doesn't think much of Kuwaiti women and couldn't let this opportunity to make fun of them pass.
You know what, I'm thinking less and less of Al Arabiya.net every day. Keep up the lousy work guys.
The Stealth Wall
"Probes by organizations such as HaMoked Center for the Defense of the Individual, B'Tselem, the Council for Peace and Security and Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights revealed more than 10 other cases in which the route accommodates settlement expansion, even at the expense of the fence's efficacy."
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Hungry in Gaza
"Mariam al-Wahedi no longer receives her $21 a month from social services and is living off the $200 she got last month by selling her last piece of jewelry, a bracelet given to her 30 years ago. Khalid Muhammad, a policeman, moonlights in a friend's shop, selling used cellphone batteries for $2.25, and says he now yells at his wife and sometimes hits his children. Umm Jihad, with six children, begs in the market."
"Flawed Report"
"THE Israeli Army has admitted to The Times that its official account of the explosion that killed eight Palestinians picnicking on a Gaza beach last week was flawed. The account is also contradicted by a UN radio transmission."
Friday, June 16, 2006
Targetting Women
Two women and the two daughters of one of them were shot dead in Pakistan near the Afghani border by some armed Islamists. The women were involved in relief work, teaching some skills to village women. (in Arabic)
Mariya Aman
"The chief of staff, Lieutenant General Dan Halutz, was proud of the work of his air force. At the end of the investigation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces, he noted that the attack was carried out "with a high level of professionalism" and "with precision." I have a suggestion for the sensitive chief of staff and former air force commander, who is familiar with every type of human suffering: Let him make an effort to go to the Alyn Hospital in Jerusalem and see with his own eyes the "high level of professionalism" and the "precision" of his pilots. Perhaps all the new pilots should be sent as well - just before they go out on their assignments, press the button and sow death - to see the outcome with their own eyes, something they never see on their sophisticated computer screens: a pretty little girl whose entire world has been destroyed, and the members of a happy family, who were taking their first drive in their new car. Now, nothing remains except bereavement, orphans and disability."
I have even a better suggestion for the chief of staff: go to the Shifa hospital in Gaza and admire your handiwork.
I have even a better suggestion for the chief of staff: go to the Shifa hospital in Gaza and admire your handiwork.
Impoverishing the Palestinians
"These kids work tirelessly from the crack of dawn until sunset. They have been baked in the sun, their faces changed, as they struggle to meet the most basic needs of their families. “We just want our daily bread,” one of them told us. They know their reality all too well and the reality of their people. Some are in university, some have served time in prison, which they take pride in. And they know the occupation is to blame for their plight."
More Evidence of Israel's Guilt
"A digitally dated and time-stamped blood test report of a victim treated at a Palestinian hospital that admitted wounded from the June 9 Gaza beach explosion suggests that the attack, that caused the deaths of seven Palestinians, did indeed take place during the time of the IDF artillery attack, Human Rights Watch reported on Friday."
Women's Rights in Iraq
"The Iraqi Women's Network is trying to preserve family law and personal status legislation of fifty years' standing against calls for personal status to be governed by affiliation to religious sects or other groupings. "We are a society of many ethnicities and religions, so this will have a very negative effect on the unity of the social fabric and weaken the state apparatus and the rule of law. It will enable religious groups to interfere in the everyday lives of families, women as well as men. We need to defend citizens' rights to stand equal before the law. Women should have full citizenship rights. How can a woman aspire to high office if essentially her life is decided by the men in her family? It doesn't add up. Social equality is essential if you want to see women and men sharing political power."
Palestinian American Activism
"If Palestinian-Americans are serious about having an impact on policy, they and other Arab-Americans must participate in the political system at all levels so the process can respond to them. This means contributing and volunteering in political campaigns, writing to the press, voting in a coordinated fashion, and presenting receivable messages to policy-makers. It also means serving the community as engaged citizens, participating in local civic and cultural life, and making sure people around the country know that Palestinian-Americans are fellow Americans and good neighbors," argue Rafaat Dajani.
Fertiltiy Wars
Fertility rates among Palestinian women in Israel declined. Usually, this is a cause of celebration in a state that convinced its citizens of the demographic threat its Palestinian citizens pose.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Joseph Massad Dismantles the PA
In this article on the Palestinian authority, Joseph Massad offers what I believe is a black and white view of the Hamas and Fateh conflict. His focus is mostly on the "black" side, i.e. the Palestinian Authority. By the end of the article, I started imagining Hamas leaders with angels' wings.
Massad's criticism of Oslo is valid. But he neglects to mention that Hamas came to power through an election sanctioned by the Oslo process. The "democracy" he's celebrating goes hand in hand with the PA he's rejecting. The Oslo classes he's talking about permeate Palestinian society in the West Bank and Gaza and has recently included Hamas itself. In a sense that was Oslo's real danger: it involved everybody. What bothers me is that Massad equates those who gained power and wealth through Oslo (Dahlan and co.) with the policeman , PA employee, or man renting his house to an NGO. The economic crisis felt by the latter groups is real (even if Fateh is using it to pressure Hamas).
There is no point in hoping the Palestinians return to a pre-Oslo situation. Oslo happened. It's a disaster. Where do we go from here? This is the hard question.
Massad's criticism of Oslo is valid. But he neglects to mention that Hamas came to power through an election sanctioned by the Oslo process. The "democracy" he's celebrating goes hand in hand with the PA he's rejecting. The Oslo classes he's talking about permeate Palestinian society in the West Bank and Gaza and has recently included Hamas itself. In a sense that was Oslo's real danger: it involved everybody. What bothers me is that Massad equates those who gained power and wealth through Oslo (Dahlan and co.) with the policeman , PA employee, or man renting his house to an NGO. The economic crisis felt by the latter groups is real (even if Fateh is using it to pressure Hamas).
There is no point in hoping the Palestinians return to a pre-Oslo situation. Oslo happened. It's a disaster. Where do we go from here? This is the hard question.
Voting Rights for Kuwaiti Husbands
The dean of the Shari'a college at Kuwait University issued a fatwa saying that it is lawful for a husband to force his wife to vote for the candidate he wants. (in Arabic)
Kuwaiti women are voting for the the first time in their history. Five women are running for the Parliament. But clearly that newly acquired rights bother some benighted minds.
The good news, however, is that he was overruled by higher religious authorities.
I really feel for his students. A mind like his belongs in a museum, not a university.
Kuwaiti women are voting for the the first time in their history. Five women are running for the Parliament. But clearly that newly acquired rights bother some benighted minds.
The good news, however, is that he was overruled by higher religious authorities.
I really feel for his students. A mind like his belongs in a museum, not a university.
The One and Only
A workshop for the different women's groups organized by the Palestinian ministry of women's affairs failed to come up with joint recommendations. The bone of contention was between those who want to consider Islamic shari'a one of the sources of legislation and those who want to consider it the "sole" source of legislation. (in Arabic)
I leave it to you to figure out whose who.
I leave it to you to figure out whose who.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Israel's Guilt
The most detailed report of the Human Rights Watch's account about Israel's guilt for the beach murders, as reported by The Independent.
American everning news yesterday only mentioned the Israeli account. ABC evening news didn't even mention the 11 killed yesterday.
This is what Human Rights Watch think of investigations conducted by the Israeli army:
"internal investigations by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have generally fallen short of international standards for thorough and impartial investigations and have rarely uncovered the truth or held to account the perpetrators of violations, as documented in a 2005 Human Rights Watch report, Promoting Impunity: The Israeli Military’s Failure to Investigate Wrongdoing. "
American everning news yesterday only mentioned the Israeli account. ABC evening news didn't even mention the 11 killed yesterday.
This is what Human Rights Watch think of investigations conducted by the Israeli army:
"internal investigations by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have generally fallen short of international standards for thorough and impartial investigations and have rarely uncovered the truth or held to account the perpetrators of violations, as documented in a 2005 Human Rights Watch report, Promoting Impunity: The Israeli Military’s Failure to Investigate Wrongdoing. "
Hadeel Ghalia
"My family were preparing the food as I was running toward my father," she said. "During that time, the Israelis bombed us. I saw my mother and aunt without faces. I also saw my father crying with a bloody body... Then I saw my brother, Haytham.
"He was asleep and tried to wake him up but he never woke. His body was covered with sand and blood. I brought a bottle of water and cleaned his body. Then I moved him to clean blanket and stayed by him."
Disturbing Films?
The film Yacoubian Building, which has been getting lots of publicity, has passed the Egyptian censor unscathed.
The film is based on the novel of the same title by Ala' al Aswani. As I said earlier about the novel, although it does criticized the government, it does not criticize the Islamists and it is homophobic. I haven't seen the film, but the fact that it did not disturb the censor, is a disturbing sign.
On a related note, Egypt decided to ban The Da Vinci Code film and book for fear it may offend and anger Egyptian Christians.
The film is based on the novel of the same title by Ala' al Aswani. As I said earlier about the novel, although it does criticized the government, it does not criticize the Islamists and it is homophobic. I haven't seen the film, but the fact that it did not disturb the censor, is a disturbing sign.
On a related note, Egypt decided to ban The Da Vinci Code film and book for fear it may offend and anger Egyptian Christians.
Go Gulf Bloggers!
"Internet blogs are giving rise to a new breed of Arab activist as ordinary residents increasingly use them to press for political rights and civil liberties in conservative Gulf states."
If You Can't Kill Them All, Choke Them
What the Israeli occupation Choking points are doing to the Palestinian economy.
How Do kids Die in Gaza? Let me Count the Ways
"A third of sick newborns in hospitals in the Gaza Strip are dying because of shortages of medicine and funding, according to UNICEF."
Those who survive die soon after for they are known to engage in risky behaviour such as going for family picnics on the beach or staying home to play.
Those who survive die soon after for they are known to engage in risky behaviour such as going for family picnics on the beach or staying home to play.
What is Hamas saying to the Israeli Press?
It seems Hamas officials are eager to give interviews to the Israeli paper Ha'aretz these days. This is the second I read this week. A common theme in both interviews was that attacks on Israel are "not in the interest of the Hamas government."
This kind of statement will never be made to the Palestinian press, of course.
This kind of statement will never be made to the Palestinian press, of course.
The Understated Anan
"United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has expressed doubt over an Israel Defense Forces probe determining that the blast on a Gaza Strip beach last Friday that killed seven civilians was caused by a mine or explosive device placed by Palestinians to prevent the IDF troops from reaching the area.
In an interview published in Al-Hayat, Annan regarded the IDF's version of the events as 'strange.'"
In an interview published in Al-Hayat, Annan regarded the IDF's version of the events as 'strange.'"
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Quiz of the Day
Why does Israel shell Palestinians then allow some to be treated in their hospitals?
a) Becaues they're nice
b) To show the world they're nice
c) to extract shrapnel from victims and use it as evidence that they didn't do it
d) both b and c
a) Becaues they're nice
b) To show the world they're nice
c) to extract shrapnel from victims and use it as evidence that they didn't do it
d) both b and c
Human Rights Watch: Israel is Responsible
This from the BBC:
"A report by US-based group Human Rights Watch says the deaths [on Gaza beach] were likely to have been caused by Israeli shelling.
"A report by US-based group Human Rights Watch says the deaths [on Gaza beach] were likely to have been caused by Israeli shelling.
An expert working for the group said the Palestinians' injuries were not consistent with an explosion taking place beneath them.
"All of the evidence is pointing to a 155mm shell as having killed and injured the Palestinians here on the beach," Mark Garlasco said.
"My assessment [is] that it's likely that this was incoming artillery fire that landed on the beach and was fired by the Israelis from the north of Gaza."
From the Guardian:
"...a former Pentagon offical sent by the New York-based Human Rights Watch to investigate the death of the family has concluded that there is little doubt they were killed by an Israeli shell. "All the evidence points to the fact that it couldn't have been a mine," said Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon expert on battlefields who led the US military's battle damage assessment team in Kosovo and worked for its intelligence wing, the Defense Intelligence Agency.
"You have the crater size, the shrapnel, the types of injuries, their location on the bodies. That all points to a shell dropping from the sky not explosives under the sand."
"The 155mm shell is what Israel uses in the howitzers that regularly shell northern Gaza," he said.
"The Israelis have been postulating that it's a land mine. I've been to hospital and seen the injuries. The doctors say they are primarily to the head and torso. That is consistent with a shell exploding above the ground not a mine under it." Palestinian doctors agreed.
Mr Garlasco said the crater where the family was killed closely resembles others scattered the length of the beach caused by Israeli shells. Each is lined with a white power left by the explosion, including the one where the family died.
A crucial weakness in the army's version is its inability to account for the sixth shell in the barrage that hit the beach. The Palestinians and Mr Garlasco say it would be a remarkable coincidence for the army to drop five shells in the area and within minutes for a Hamas land mine to have exploded just 120 metres away.
"To say you have five or six rounds in an area and coincidentally there's a land mine next to it and it goes off at the same time is asking a lot," he said."
Another Day, Another Massacre
How does the "most moral army in the world" deal with killing the Ghalia family on the Gaza beach?
They deny responsibility.
They strike again.
9 Palestinian civilians murdered today in Gaza, including two school children.
And the spin doctors start working right away. Here's one:
Ibrahim Barzak of the Associated Press writes, "If the van was carrying Katyusha rockets as Israel said, that could explain why the army was so determined to stop it."
It explains nothing, you moron. Israel had killed civilians in airstrikes many many times before. So the Katyusha bit, along with them getting the rockets' "top launcher," is a shameless way to justify what it's been doing for years now.
But they really shouldn't bother inflating the Palestinians this way to justify murdering them. They can just slaughter them, the way they do, because they can and the world lets them.
They deny responsibility.
They strike again.
9 Palestinian civilians murdered today in Gaza, including two school children.
And the spin doctors start working right away. Here's one:
Ibrahim Barzak of the Associated Press writes, "If the van was carrying Katyusha rockets as Israel said, that could explain why the army was so determined to stop it."
It explains nothing, you moron. Israel had killed civilians in airstrikes many many times before. So the Katyusha bit, along with them getting the rockets' "top launcher," is a shameless way to justify what it's been doing for years now.
But they really shouldn't bother inflating the Palestinians this way to justify murdering them. They can just slaughter them, the way they do, because they can and the world lets them.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Moroccan Feminism
"It is often assumed that modern feminism has no place, and thus can make little headway, in societies undergoing a religious revival, particularly in the Islamic world. But the real progress made in recent years on women's rights in Morocco suggests otherwise: a unique combination of activism by secular and religious women, the calculations of political parties, and the significant role of King Mohammed VI has led to real progress," writes Moroccan feminist Fatima Sadiqi.
It seems that the feminist Islamist strategy of reinterpreting the Islamic texts from a feminist point of view has a better chance of working if the King/patriarch was on your side.
But what to do when he isn't?
Hamas and the Two-State Solution
According to Jennifer Loewinstein, Hamas is a pragamatic organization that supports a two- state solution and has done that for a long time.
She offers several statements by Hamas leaders that support a two-state solution.
She acknowledges that there are other statements by Hamas that do not accept the two-state solution. But she doesn't dwell on those.
She also mentions that "politically" hamas accepts the two-state solution but "organizationally" the group is not there yet. What does that mean exactly? The leaders accept but haven't broken the news to the rank and file?
Yet, she doesn't explain why Hamas is against the prisoners' agreement which asks for a two state solution? If they accept that, which according to her does not contradict their program, there will be no need for a referendum.
After reading her article, I'm left with the impression that Hamas is doing what it's doing only to spite Fateh.
Could that be it?
She offers several statements by Hamas leaders that support a two-state solution.
She acknowledges that there are other statements by Hamas that do not accept the two-state solution. But she doesn't dwell on those.
She also mentions that "politically" hamas accepts the two-state solution but "organizationally" the group is not there yet. What does that mean exactly? The leaders accept but haven't broken the news to the rank and file?
Yet, she doesn't explain why Hamas is against the prisoners' agreement which asks for a two state solution? If they accept that, which according to her does not contradict their program, there will be no need for a referendum.
After reading her article, I'm left with the impression that Hamas is doing what it's doing only to spite Fateh.
Could that be it?
Quote of the Day
Salah al Bardawi, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, says: "The renewal of the suicide bombings inside Israel could be disastrous for the Hamas movement."
It would be disastrous for the Palestinian people too. But he didn't say that.
It would be disastrous for the Palestinian people too. But he didn't say that.
Intermittent Explosive Disorder
It's the medical name for the rage you feel watching the news and the overwhelming urge you get to smash your computer afte reach CNN update you get.
Spinning the Slaughter of Palestinians
George Azar of The New York Times did a brilliant piece of investigative journalism, in which he concluded that the shell that killed the Ghalia family was "errant" and that Huda, the girl screaming over the dead body of her father on the beach, is not technically an orphan, and is only so according to Palestinian definitions of orphanhood, because she really still has a mother. He implies that the Palestinians are getting it wrong yet again, making an icon of the wrong girl. Afterall, she only lost a father and four siblings, unlike Hadeel, who lost a father, a mother, and four siblings.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Mahmoud Darwish: Think of Others
Think of Others
Mahmoud Darwish
2005
While making breakfast, think of others
[don't forget the pigeons' feed]
While fighting your wars, think of others
[don't forget those who want peace]
While paying your water bill, think of others
[those who are drinking the clouds]
While walking home, think of others
[don't forget the people of the tents]
While sleeping and counting planets, think of others
[there are those who don't have a place to sleep]
While liberating yourself with metaphors, think of others
[those who lost the right to speak]
While thinking of the distant others, think of yourself
[say: I wish I were a candle in the dark]
[my translation]
Almost a Hero, But Not Quite
There are some men I wish they would choke everytime they say the word "Palestine." They are: Osama Ben Laden, Ayman al Thawahiri,and their side kick Abdel Bary 'Atwan, Al Quds Al Arabi's Al Qa'eda resident apologist.
Oh, and the Iranian president. I don't want to forget him.
As if the Palestinians don't have one disaster after another raining on their heads ...
But the one who bugs me most is the "intellectual" Abdel Bary 'Atwan. His eulogy of Abu Mus'ab al Zarqawi in Al Quds Al Arabi a couple of days ago should send him (that is 'Atwan) to the dust bin of history.
'Atwan does not hide his admiration and support for Al Qa'eda. He calls Ben Laden "Al Sheikh" الشيخ اسامة بن لادن and al Thawahiri "Dr." الدكتور الظواهري. Several times. I personally have never seen that in the Arab press.
He can hardly contain his admiration for al Zarqawi, whose fault was to be, in 'Atwan's words, a bit excitable and impulsive!!!!!! (I'd like to put as many exclamation points as the number of al Zarqawi's innocent victims, but...)
Here's some of the gems 'Atwan says about Al Zaraqawi:
"Abu Mus'ab al Zarqawi, whether one agreed with him or disagreed, represented a unique phenomenon in the extremist Islamic Jihad. For he emerged from the suffering and poverty in the city of Al Zaraqa in Jordan, to become a symbol for courage and heroism in the minds of many of his countrymen. Except for the hotel bombings in Amman, which killed scores of the innocent civilians, and the exploitation of these bombings by the Jordanian government to launch a media campaing against him and the Al Qa'eda, Al Zarqawi would have become a hero in the eyes of thousands, if not millions..."
ابو مصعب الزرقاوي اتفق معه البعض او اختلف، شكل ظاهرة فريدة في العمل الجهادي الاسلامي المتطرف، فقد خرج من قلب احياء المعاناة والقهر في مدينة الزرقاء في الاردن، ليتحول الي رمز للشجاعة والبطولة في اذهان الكثير من ابناء جلدته، ولولا تفجيرات الفنادق في عمان التي اودت بحياة العشرات من المدنيين الابرياء واستغلال الحكومة الاردنية
المكثف لها للتحريض ضده وضد تنظيم القاعدة، لأصبح بطلا في اعين الآلاف وربما الملايين
I mean think about it: Except for killing scores of innocent civilians (but come on 'Atwan: how innocent could they have been if they were having a wedding in a fancy hotel with men and women mixing?) and having his reputation been tarnished by the Jordanian government (his steller reputation that according to 'Atwan's own article included bombing Shi'ats and beheading innocent hostages), he would have been a hero.
Darn it! He was so close. One almost feels like blaming those innocent civilians for standing between Al Zarqawi and heroic glory. How dare they?
Oh, and the Iranian president. I don't want to forget him.
As if the Palestinians don't have one disaster after another raining on their heads ...
But the one who bugs me most is the "intellectual" Abdel Bary 'Atwan. His eulogy of Abu Mus'ab al Zarqawi in Al Quds Al Arabi a couple of days ago should send him (that is 'Atwan) to the dust bin of history.
'Atwan does not hide his admiration and support for Al Qa'eda. He calls Ben Laden "Al Sheikh" الشيخ اسامة بن لادن and al Thawahiri "Dr." الدكتور الظواهري. Several times. I personally have never seen that in the Arab press.
He can hardly contain his admiration for al Zarqawi, whose fault was to be, in 'Atwan's words, a bit excitable and impulsive!!!!!! (I'd like to put as many exclamation points as the number of al Zarqawi's innocent victims, but...)
Here's some of the gems 'Atwan says about Al Zaraqawi:
"Abu Mus'ab al Zarqawi, whether one agreed with him or disagreed, represented a unique phenomenon in the extremist Islamic Jihad. For he emerged from the suffering and poverty in the city of Al Zaraqa in Jordan, to become a symbol for courage and heroism in the minds of many of his countrymen. Except for the hotel bombings in Amman, which killed scores of the innocent civilians, and the exploitation of these bombings by the Jordanian government to launch a media campaing against him and the Al Qa'eda, Al Zarqawi would have become a hero in the eyes of thousands, if not millions..."
ابو مصعب الزرقاوي اتفق معه البعض او اختلف، شكل ظاهرة فريدة في العمل الجهادي الاسلامي المتطرف، فقد خرج من قلب احياء المعاناة والقهر في مدينة الزرقاء في الاردن، ليتحول الي رمز للشجاعة والبطولة في اذهان الكثير من ابناء جلدته، ولولا تفجيرات الفنادق في عمان التي اودت بحياة العشرات من المدنيين الابرياء واستغلال الحكومة الاردنية
المكثف لها للتحريض ضده وضد تنظيم القاعدة، لأصبح بطلا في اعين الآلاف وربما الملايين
I mean think about it: Except for killing scores of innocent civilians (but come on 'Atwan: how innocent could they have been if they were having a wedding in a fancy hotel with men and women mixing?) and having his reputation been tarnished by the Jordanian government (his steller reputation that according to 'Atwan's own article included bombing Shi'ats and beheading innocent hostages), he would have been a hero.
Darn it! He was so close. One almost feels like blaming those innocent civilians for standing between Al Zarqawi and heroic glory. How dare they?
Poverty in Israel
"A total of 18 percent of all families in Israel live below the poverty line, the highest such figure in the Western world, with half of Israeli Arab families living in poverty."
"The Most Moral Army in the World"
"An army that fires missiles at busy streets and tank shells at a beach cannot claim there was no intent to harm innocent civilians," writes Gideon Levy in Ha'aretz.
Out of Place in Japanese
A new film in Japanese about Edward Said.
I don't like that the writer of the article says that Said had a "cultish following." I don't remember having to do a special dance or drink blood before reading Orientalism or after. Why not just say that the book was influential?
I don't like that the writer of the article says that Said had a "cultish following." I don't remember having to do a special dance or drink blood before reading Orientalism or after. Why not just say that the book was influential?
Saturday, June 10, 2006
They Have Names
Ali Issa Ghalia (49) (father)
Ra'eesa Ghalia (35) (mother)
'Alya (17) (daughter)
Ilham (15) (daughter)
Sabreen (4) (daughter)
Hanadi (2) (daughter)
Haytham (1) (son)
source: Al Ayyam
Ra'eesa Ghalia (35) (mother)
'Alya (17) (daughter)
Ilham (15) (daughter)
Sabreen (4) (daughter)
Hanadi (2) (daughter)
Haytham (1) (son)
source: Al Ayyam
Shaking Hands With the Queen
A new fatwa says it's allowed for Dutch Muslims to shake hands with the Queen. Apparently, the Imam of one mosque refuesed to do so, which looked pretty bad. (in Arabic)
think this Dutch Imam should get in touch with the Danish Imam who started the cartoons fiasco and see what new public image disaster they can come up with for European Muslims.
And speaking of the Danish cartoons, two Jordanian journalists were recently sentenced to two months in prison for publishing the cartoons. I guess this is much better than executing them, which was what some people were calling for in the frenzy of that heated moment.
think this Dutch Imam should get in touch with the Danish Imam who started the cartoons fiasco and see what new public image disaster they can come up with for European Muslims.
And speaking of the Danish cartoons, two Jordanian journalists were recently sentenced to two months in prison for publishing the cartoons. I guess this is much better than executing them, which was what some people were calling for in the frenzy of that heated moment.
The Power of the Imaginary
"Unlike medieval Christianity, where the body was seen as polluted and evil by definition, medieval Islam did not have the puritanical impulse that led to monasticism. Yet at one point the discourse on sexuality became forbidden in our society; and despite the official censor's claim that such discourse goes against the grain of our traditions, the examination of our legacy reveals otherwise. Is this contemporary prudence about sexual matters a Victorian attitude imported along with the colonial invasion? Or is it related to the rise of the middle class? And if so, why should the middle class among all classes be so allergic to issues of sex?" asks Feryal Ghazoul.
Arab Women's Rights
On Killing Palestinian Civilians
"The Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for at least 15 of the rockets fired after midnight, as well as a barrage of mortar bombs. The attacks caused no casualties, and the Israeli army said nearly all of them appeared to land inside Gaza."
"In the Jabalya refugee camp, five Palestinians were injured on Saturday when a Qassam meant for Israel landed in the camp instead."
Since the Qassam rocket attacks on Israel started, 6 Israelis were killed. This information is readily available on the net. You also get the names of the victims, their ages, their cities, and pictures of some of them.
Yesterday, seven members of the same Palestinian family were killed, including Haitham Ghalia, the family's one-year-old baby and another 6 month-old-baby. Two weeks earlier, a man lost all of his family in another attack. The week before that another family was annihilated. In 2005, the same Ghalia family that was hit yesterday lost four members when an Israeli shell landed on their farm.
I guess these are your odds if you live in Gaza.
I don't know how many Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli response to Qassam firings alone. And I don't have names, ages or pictures of the victims. I do know that the kids of the Ghalia family loved corn-on-the cub. I suspect that the parents, now dead, must have loved the letter "H": the kids names are/were: "Huda," "Hadeel," and "Haitham."
I've said this before, but I guess it's worth repeating: the Palestinians are the ones endangered by the Qassam rockets, despite the inflated rhetoric of Hamas and the others firing them. The beneficiaries are Israeli politicians, who use these pathetic attacks to foresake any restraint when it comes to bombing a civilian population. The Qassam rockets and the war rhetoric that sells them obscure what is really going on: an Israeli war on Palestinian civilians.
Hamas uses the Qassam rockets to score political points. This is the rockets major function for the group. They do not offer any protection to the Palestinians, do not force any restraint on the Israeli army, and do not advance the Palestinians towards a just political solution. And of course, they do not change the imbalance in militrary might between the Palestinians and the Israelis one bit. Let's keep in mind that Israel does not only have a mighty army, but it's also a nuclear power. The Palestinians have the Qassam rockets that land, mostly, in Gaza.
Speaking of scoring political points: I don't believe the Israelis will let the referendum on the two state solutions take place. They will subotage it anyway they can. What happened the past two days, in my opinion, serves that purpose. They would prefer Hamas in the government, so they can annihilate the Palestinian cause from the international political map.
What happened also helps Hamas out of a tight corner: their back was to the wall because the business of governing was not going well and they were losing support. The polls show that the majority of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza support the referendum document. Now, they are back to doing what they believe will restore their legitimacy.
"In the Jabalya refugee camp, five Palestinians were injured on Saturday when a Qassam meant for Israel landed in the camp instead."
Since the Qassam rocket attacks on Israel started, 6 Israelis were killed. This information is readily available on the net. You also get the names of the victims, their ages, their cities, and pictures of some of them.
Yesterday, seven members of the same Palestinian family were killed, including Haitham Ghalia, the family's one-year-old baby and another 6 month-old-baby. Two weeks earlier, a man lost all of his family in another attack. The week before that another family was annihilated. In 2005, the same Ghalia family that was hit yesterday lost four members when an Israeli shell landed on their farm.
I guess these are your odds if you live in Gaza.
I don't know how many Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli response to Qassam firings alone. And I don't have names, ages or pictures of the victims. I do know that the kids of the Ghalia family loved corn-on-the cub. I suspect that the parents, now dead, must have loved the letter "H": the kids names are/were: "Huda," "Hadeel," and "Haitham."
I've said this before, but I guess it's worth repeating: the Palestinians are the ones endangered by the Qassam rockets, despite the inflated rhetoric of Hamas and the others firing them. The beneficiaries are Israeli politicians, who use these pathetic attacks to foresake any restraint when it comes to bombing a civilian population. The Qassam rockets and the war rhetoric that sells them obscure what is really going on: an Israeli war on Palestinian civilians.
Hamas uses the Qassam rockets to score political points. This is the rockets major function for the group. They do not offer any protection to the Palestinians, do not force any restraint on the Israeli army, and do not advance the Palestinians towards a just political solution. And of course, they do not change the imbalance in militrary might between the Palestinians and the Israelis one bit. Let's keep in mind that Israel does not only have a mighty army, but it's also a nuclear power. The Palestinians have the Qassam rockets that land, mostly, in Gaza.
Speaking of scoring political points: I don't believe the Israelis will let the referendum on the two state solutions take place. They will subotage it anyway they can. What happened the past two days, in my opinion, serves that purpose. They would prefer Hamas in the government, so they can annihilate the Palestinian cause from the international political map.
What happened also helps Hamas out of a tight corner: their back was to the wall because the business of governing was not going well and they were losing support. The polls show that the majority of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza support the referendum document. Now, they are back to doing what they believe will restore their legitimacy.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Al Arabeya's Homophobia
Helem, the Lebanese organization defending the civil rights of gays and lesbians has issued a statement asking Al Arabeya.net to stop its smear campaign against the organization and its activities. I have posted some of Al Arabeya coverage, and I criticized it whenever I could, but there is more detail in this Helem statement.
And they want to market Dubai, home of Al Arabeya.net, as the new Cordoba!!! Fat chance.
And they want to market Dubai, home of Al Arabeya.net, as the new Cordoba!!! Fat chance.
And the Slaughter Continues...
"BEIT LAHIA, Gaza Strip -- Israeli gunboats off the Mediterranean coast shelled suspected rocket launching sites in Gaza, and Palestinian officials said the artillery hit a family picnicking on the beach, killing nine people, including three children."
40 people were injured.
The Israeli navey decided to stop shelling. For now. I guess to give the Palestinians a chance to collect all body parts, which I hear where blown all over Gaza's beautiful beach.
But not to worry.
The army (or navy in this case) will investigate.
They will investigate why people die when shells land on their heads.
They won't be investigating the toxic level of hatred in people's hearts which allows them to keep killing Palestinians in this way, day in and day out.
They won't be investigating the indifference of the Israeli population to these massacres that are committed in their name and for their security.
They won't be investigating the level the dehumanization of the Palestinians has reached that now adays nobody cries for their dead.
No, they won't.
40 people were injured.
The Israeli navey decided to stop shelling. For now. I guess to give the Palestinians a chance to collect all body parts, which I hear where blown all over Gaza's beautiful beach.
But not to worry.
The army (or navy in this case) will investigate.
They will investigate why people die when shells land on their heads.
They won't be investigating the toxic level of hatred in people's hearts which allows them to keep killing Palestinians in this way, day in and day out.
They won't be investigating the indifference of the Israeli population to these massacres that are committed in their name and for their security.
They won't be investigating the level the dehumanization of the Palestinians has reached that now adays nobody cries for their dead.
No, they won't.
Terrorizing American Women
"A Prince George's County man accused of making a pipe bomb that partially detonated inside a house yesterday had planned to blow up an abortion clinic, federal authorities said.
Robert F. Weiler Jr., 25, admitted planning the attack and also told investigators that he intended to "shoot doctors who perform abortions," according to a law enforcement affidavit."
Thursday, June 08, 2006
What Do Muslim Women Want?
Bad news for those who want to save Muslim women: apparently, the majority of Muslim women do not see themselves as oppressed.
Woman as Womb
"Not planning on getting pregnant? The Center for Disease Control (CDC) doesn't care. As far as they are concerned, if you are one of the 62 million women in the U.S. of childbearing age, you are pre-pregnant. A vessel. You are a future fetal incubator."
Women in Iraq
An article in The Independent about the dangers and violations of rights women in Iraq are facing.
One of the sources for the article states: "In the Muslim religion, if a man dies his money goes to a male member of the family. After the Iran-Iraq war, there were so many widows that Saddam changed the law so it would go to the women and children. Now it has been changed back."
I don't know what Saddam did, but the first part of the statement is inaccurate. In Islam, women inherit from their fathers and husbands. The religion specifies the proportions for each specific situation.
But despite the fact that Islam gives women inheritance rights (rights British women, for instance, didn't get till the 'married woman property act of 1882'), in practice patriarchal traditions overrule religious injunctions. Thus, many women, especially of poorer classes, are coerced into giving their inheritance rights up for their brothers.
One of the sources for the article states: "In the Muslim religion, if a man dies his money goes to a male member of the family. After the Iran-Iraq war, there were so many widows that Saddam changed the law so it would go to the women and children. Now it has been changed back."
I don't know what Saddam did, but the first part of the statement is inaccurate. In Islam, women inherit from their fathers and husbands. The religion specifies the proportions for each specific situation.
But despite the fact that Islam gives women inheritance rights (rights British women, for instance, didn't get till the 'married woman property act of 1882'), in practice patriarchal traditions overrule religious injunctions. Thus, many women, especially of poorer classes, are coerced into giving their inheritance rights up for their brothers.
Poverty in America
"Over the past 25 years the median US family income has gone up 18 percent. For the top one percent, however, it has gone up 200 percent. A quarter of a century ago the top fifth of Americans had an average income 6.7 times that of the bottom fifth. Now it is 9.8 times."
"The Israeli Boycott of Palestinian Education"
During my senior year in college, Birzeit University was closed down for 7 months. It was closed before that many times, for days, weeks, and months. Some universities are closed for years. There were always checkpoints and harassment. My foreign professors--Swedish, British, Irish, American, Greek--were harassed to sign anti-PLO statements in order to have their work permits renewed. My graduation was cancelled because days before the Israeli army shot dead several students at a university in Hebron.
All this (and more) was pre-first Intifada. But since then, things have been getting much much worse for Palestinian universities. When I taught at An-Najah University in the late 90s, students would photocopy whole books because their book shipments are stranded at the boredrer (and after so many bad experiences the professors stopped ordering them that way). Half of my students were former prisoners and the other half was risking arrest at checkpoints every day they attended school.
But instead of hearing about that, we have to hear much whining by Israeli academics about how the peaceful drive to boycott Israeli universities by some British academics is a violation of Israeli academics' freedoms and yes, you guessed it, is anti semitic.
But it is not. Here's a good article making the case for Palestinian universities.
Muslims in the Marines
"[t]he first Muslim prayer center for the Marines" is opened. Apparently, there are 4000 Muslim Americans serving in the Marines.
Good Riddance
I know that killing al Zarqawi is not going to change much in Iraq, and that his death will be made into what Robert Fisk called this morning on "Democracy Now" a "Hollywood moment," but I'm glad he's gone.
Have You No Decency, Woman!
Ann Coulter's venom is sparing no one. After spewing her poison againt Muslims, Arabs, feminists, liberals, democrats, the poor, and any one with a shred of decency for years, she turns her attentions to her new victims: four September 11th widows who have been demanding more investigation in the way the government guard against terror attacks.
Ironically, Coulter is angry with the widows because, accroding to her, they use their grief "to make a political point."
At least they are using their grief.
Coulter and co. have been using a nation's grief (and fear) to make plenty of political points.
Coulter does not bother me. Every age has its slime. Her readers, however, those who put her on the best seller list, do.
Another thing that bothers me is that The Washington Post files this article under entertainment news. Yeah, right. Coulter's attacks on 9/11 widows are classy "entertainment" of the first order: up there with mud wrestling and Jerry Springer.
Fashionable Expectations
It seems that now women are allowed to be pregnant and fashionable, at the same time. It used to be that a pregnant woman was expected to hide her bulging belly and to just grin and "bear it" till delivery. But now showing off is in, thanks to older moms with cash. And Angelina Jolie, of course.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Home at Last?
"Almost everything the tribe had established over the previous 30,000 years was gradually taken away from them. The land they had roamed for centuries was taken over by white settlers. The pastoral peace which they cultivated for generations was shattered. Much of the tribe died out; those who remained were forced into poorly paid manual work. Not even their name would remain; rather they were dubbed "Hottentots" by the Dutch - a pejorative term loaded with the derision with which they were viewed. As a people, the Khoekhoen were ridiculed as a collection of backward curiosities. Many were even brought to Europe during the 19th century to be paraded naked for the entertainment of the London and Paris elites."
Youngest Transgender Child
An interesting article about transgendered children. It's also about one brave family.
"Me Man, Me Eat Only Meat," he grunted.
Men should be offended by the stereotypes of masculinity the new ads for testosterone food perpetuate.
picture courtesy of Adbusters
What Does Israel Want?
"[T]he basic strategy is what it was in 1948: population transfer, to be achieved by making life so awful for Palestinians that most of them will depart, leaving a few bankrupt ghettoes behind as memorials to all those foolish hopes of a sovereign Palestinian state," writes Alexander Cockburn.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
On Manhood
"Even Abbas' harshest critics in Fatah claim "something has changed in the man." He's not afraid to take on Hamas, and even to declare early elections for parliament and the chairmanship. "He's become a man," one added."
what was he before? A boy? A woman? I sometimes wonder if Fateh's problem is basically an excess of testosterone.
Btw, Ha'artez passingly mentions that Jibril al Roujoub is now "immersed in academic studies." I had to read that a few times and I still don't get it. What academic studies is he immersed in, I'm dying to know.
what was he before? A boy? A woman? I sometimes wonder if Fateh's problem is basically an excess of testosterone.
Btw, Ha'artez passingly mentions that Jibril al Roujoub is now "immersed in academic studies." I had to read that a few times and I still don't get it. What academic studies is he immersed in, I'm dying to know.
Supporting Two States
"Seventy-seven percent of Palestinians support the "prisoners' document," which calls for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to the results of a poll released Tuesday by Birzeit University in Ramallah."
Keeping an Eye
"The Israeli women of Machsom Watch keep a close eye on soldier behavior at the roughly 600 Israeli-controlled checkpoints in the West Bank. "
The Judeo-Arab Music Heritage
Zionism really hates this kind of stuff. An Arab Jew? That can't be. Erase them. But Jewish people have been part of the Arab and Muslim world for centuries and their important cultural and scientific contributions are integral to Arab civilization.
I know that a number of Egypt's well-known actors and singers were Jewish. Leila Murad is one. Yousef Wahbi?
This reminds of a scene in Elia Suleiman's film Divine Intervention. The Palestinian main character is in his car, stopped at a red light. Next to him also at the light is an Israeli man, a settler perhaps, waiting. The Palestinian starts playing a song by Natasha Atlas: "I put a spell on you/Becaue your mine ...) He directs hostile, difant looks at the Israeli man, who returns the favor. The scene is hilarious and ironic on so many levels, one of them is that this act of "resistance" by the Palestinian is mediated by Atlas, who is a Moroccan Muslim/Jew (figure this one out yourself), singing a song in English.
Hind El Hinnawi: A Pioneer Against Cadism
Egyptian courts finally gave Hind El- Hinnawi some justice: they ruled that Ahmad
El-Fishawi is, indeed, the father of her daughter.
This paternity suit has been the talk of Egypt for a while. Hind sued Ahmad after giving birth to a daughter, saying that they were married a 'urfi (customary) marriage and that Ahmad, son of the famous but spineless actor Farouq El Fishawi, should own up to it. She wanted her daughter's rights.
While cusotmary marriages are not uncommon in Egypt, they have a stigma attached to them. They leave the woman in a vulnerable position, with no rights or recourse. Once the man deserts the woman, often she just fades away licking her wounds and keeping silent so as not to be disgraced.
Not Hind.
The educated, middle-class professional decided to speak out and went public. Her parents, instead of being disgraced by her, SUPPORTED her. Wow! What shock!! Good for her. El Fishawi first denied that he even knew har, implying that she's a loose woman who sleeps around. Later, he admitted to the marriage.
If there is any true sense of justice, this cad should be disgraced for not standing by his daughter and for working to ruin her mother's reputation. Instead, he's still acting, protected by daddy's fame and connections.
Mabrouk Hind. Kick his ass, girl!
Age Perfect Pro-Calcium Restorative Hydrating and Skin Supporting Makeup
"This summer, 60-year-old actress Diane Keaton will be smiling back at you from an ad campaign, but not one for Geritol, life insurance or other artifacts of life beyond the sixth decade. She'll be the new face of a skin-care campaign for L'Oreal Paris, which selected the film star to portray a new view of beauty — a wrinkled one."
In The Service of Empire: Reading Lolita in Tehran
This is a devastating (and I mean devastating) critique of Azar Nafisi's much celebrated book Reading Lolita in Tehran by Hamid Dabashi. Called "a masterpiece" by the father of all orientalists Bernard Lewis, Reading Lolita in Tehran has been all over the place, ironically appearing as a good title for courses on world literature when the only literature it celebrates is "Western Masterpieces."
The article is long and academic but well-worth reading. I would say for anyone who read the book or is thinking of reading it Dabashi's piece is a must read. For anyone teaching the book, it would be irresponsible not to include the article as required reading.
Azar Nafisi spoke at George Mason about a year ago. I started reading her book in preparation for attending the lecture, but I never could finish it. I hated it.
One important thing Dabashi shows in his article, is Nafisi's connections with the neocons. That is juicy stuff.
His reading of the picture on the cover is brilliant. Above you can see the original picture before it was "cropped" (and with it Iranian history, culture, and people) for US consumption.
(thanks Wail)
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